Pro-Tec Design - Experts & Thought Leaders

The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named new members and leadership of the steering committee for SIA RISE, a community that fosters the careers of young professionals and emerging pioneers in the security industry. Dakota Mackie of Northland Controls serves as chair, with Kelly Ann Christensen of BCD now serving as vice chair. In these roles, Mackie and Christensen ensure that RISE delivers educational content and networking opportunities to young professional employees and rising stars at SIA member companies, college students and recent graduates interested in the global security industry. Prior roles of Mackie  Mackie joined Northland Controls in 2020 as the content marketing specialist Dakota Mackie is the business development manager at Northland Controls. Prior to joining the security industry, she worked as a client services coordinator at the Washington Commanders (then the Washington Redskins) before beginning a role with a military nonprofit, Luke’s Wings, where she ultimately ended her tenure as the executive director. Mackie joined Northland Controls in 2020 as the content marketing specialist, and in her current role, she is responsible for supporting the entire sales cycle with a focus on the growth of Northland’s managed services offering. Mackie has been honoured as a SIA Women in Security Forum Power 100 honouree and is a graduate of the University of South Carolina. Outside of work, she has a passion for travelling the world and learning about new cultures. Prior roles of Ann Christensen Kelly Ann Christensen is a digital marketing specialist at BCD, an IP video data infrastructure manufacturer, and has spent nearly five years specialising in the security industry. With a focus on digital advertising and marketing analytics, she has certifications in ROI marketing, marketing management, SEO and PPC marketing. Prior to becoming RISE vice chair, she served as head of the RISE Scholarship subcommittee, which provides scholarships to young professionals in the security industry to assist with furthering education, attending industry events, obtaining new certifications and furthering their professional development, and was awarded the SIA RISE Scholarship in 2022 and one of SIA’s 2024 Sandy Jones Volunteers of the Year. Christensen has also participated in SIA’s Talent Inclusion Mentorship Education (TIME) program, which is designed to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and empowerment of underrepresented identities in the security industry by creating a well-defined pathway for learning and development. SIA RISE Steering Committee The SIA RISE Steering Committee now includes the following members: Chair: Dakota Mackie, business development manager, Northland Controls (Term ends 2025) Vice Chair: Kelly Ann Christensen, marketing manager, BCD (Term ends 2027) AcceleRISE Subcommittee Chair: Erin Grippo, senior manager, product operations, Brivo (Term ends 2025) Content Subcommittee Chair: Tanner LaRocque, marketing director, Evolon (Term ends 2026) Scholarship Subcommittee Chair: Kristin Shockley, manager, segment marketing, Genetec (Term ends 2026) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Subcommittee Chair: Tristin Vaccaro, owner, Vaccaro Copywriting & Marketing Solutions (Term ends 2025) Jonah Azarcon, deputy project pioneer, M.C. Dean (Term ends 2027) Krystina Beach, marketing communications manager, ASSA ABLOY (Term ends 2027) Andres Capous, regional sales manager, Velasea (Term ends 2027) Joey Joy, distribution channel account manager, March Networks (Term ends 2027) Ryan Knoll, business relations manager, Pro-Tec Design (Term ends 2027) Tim Loth, sales engineer team lead, i-PRO (Term ends 2026) Jackie Paryz, director, sales, technology solutions, Securitas (Term ends 2027) Itzel Portillo, marketing specialist, Allegion (Term ends 2027) Amanda Powell, marketing manager, Boon Edam (Term ends 2025) Nicole Rigby, team lead, distribution operations, Axis Communications (Term ends 2026) Keyser Santana, global security strategist and business execution senior manager, Pratt & Whitney (Term ends 2025) Constantine Tremouliaris, integrated solutions specialist, ASSA ABLOY (Term ends 2025) KeShia Thomas, brand and solutions manager, Allegion (Term ends 2027) Mfon Ubaha, business development manager, i-PRO (Term ends 2027) Sarah Webel, human resources generalist, SAGE Integration (Term ends 2027) Lauren Yonis, global events manager, acre (Term ends 2027) New RISE committee members “SIA RISE is a vibrant community of accomplished young security pioneers and driven industry newcomers that offers a robust array of opportunities for learning, professional development, engagement and relationship building in our industry. This community and its meaningful initiatives would not be possible without our dedicated, talented volunteers, like RISE chair Dakota Mackie, new vice chair Kelly Ann Christensen and our subcommittee chairs, Erin Grippo, Tanner LaRocque, Kristin Shockley and Tristin Vaccaro,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “We welcome our new RISE committee members, and we thank outgoing committee members and past RISE chairs Jake Brown and Matt Feenan for their leadership and support over the years. We look forward to working together with the 2025 RISE committee to further advance the reach and impact of RISE and its programs and propel the security workforce of the future.” RISE Awards and annual AcceleRISE conference SIA RISE is a community that fosters the careers of young professionals in the security industry. SIA RISE’s offerings include an annual scholarship to further young talent’s education and career goals, fun in-person and virtual networking events for young professionals, the TIME program for early and mid-career professionals, recognition of new and emerging industry pioneers through the 25 on the RISE Awards and the annual AcceleRISE conference – an essential experience for young security talent. The SIA RISE community is open to all employees at SIA member companies who are young professionals under 40 or have been in the security industry for less than two years.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) has named 24 recipients for this year’s SIA RISE Scholarship, a program offered through SIA’s RISE community, which supports the education and career development goals of young industry talent and emerging pioneers. Through this scholarship program – open to SIA student members and RISE members who are employees at SIA member companies – each awardee will receive a USD 3,000 scholarship to use toward continuing education and professional development courses, SIA program offerings and/or other academic or education programs. Array of security professionals Scholarship funds can be used to expand knowledge in the areas of business, human resources Scholarship funds can be used to expand knowledge in the areas of business, human resources, information technology, marketing, sales, project management, security engineering, and/or risk management. “SIA congratulates this year’s class of RISE Scholarship awardees – an impressive, diverse array of security professionals and rising stars who are making their mark on our industry,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “We are proud to present scholarships to more recipients this year than ever before and honoured to support these inspiring young pioneers as they pursue their educational and career development goals.” RISE Scholarship The winners for this year’s RISE Scholarship are: Zachary Allen, account executive, Convergint Technologies Brianna Bonfondeo, account manager, Traka, ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions Joi Brown, control centre specialist, Rapid Response Monitoring Services Brenda Constantin, account executive, 3Sixty Integrated, a Division of the Cook & Boardman Group Jonathan Crabtree, channel sales specialist, Genetec Taylor Davenport, HR business partner, i-PRO Americas Mason Fanning, end user specialist, ASSA ABLOY Natalie Fetsko, customer success manager, dormakaba Aishwarya Gandhe, senior channel marketing coordinator, North America, Genetec Anish Chandra Jalla, software developer II, Genetec Kajaanei Kajenthiran, security guard, City of Toronto, Canada Will Knehr, senior manager of information assurance and data privacy, i-PRO Americas Ryan Knoll, account executive, Pro-Tec Design Chandni Lalwani, DevOps engineer, HID Global Vincent Malenfer-Henard, security analyst, Genetec Josh Martin, mechanical engineer II, dormakaba Bryn Menzel, director of strategic accounts and marketing, 3millID Corporation Gabriella Moraniec, contracts manager, GSA Schedules Taylor Nevells, digital marketing and content specialist, Wavelynx Juan Pelayo, technical support supervisor, i-PRO Americas Itzel Portillo, marketing specialist, Allegion Joel Searle, program manager, ZBeta Maria Sturges, project coordinator and administrator, Northland Controls Julie Trinh, SDK specialist, Genetec New opportunities in the security industry SIA would also like to thank the following individuals and companies which contributed to the 2024 RISE Scholarship fund.  Tax-deductible donations were made through the Foundation for Advancing Security Talent (FAST), a nonprofit organisation co-founded by SIA and the Electronic Security Association and dedicated to connecting passionate, innovative professionals with new opportunities in the security industry. ADI Allegion Axis Communications Convergint Genetec HID i-PRO Secure Access & Digital Systems Securitas Technology TIME program SIA RISE is a community that fosters the careers of emerging pioneers in the security industry. In addition to the SIA RISE Scholarship, SIA RISE offers fun in-person and virtual networking events for young professionals, the Talent Inclusion Mentorship Education (TIME) program for early and mid-career professionals, the 25 on the RISE Awards, career growth webinars and trade show education tracks and the annual AcceleRISE conference – a unique event designed to ignite new thinking, strengthen leadership and sharpen business acumen in young security talent.  The SIA RISE community is open to all employees at SIA member companies who are young professionals under 40 or have been in the security industry for less than two years; learn more and sign up to join.

Minneapolis Airport proves that slow and steady acquisition wins the technology race with Vicon’s expandable video systems. For the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, simply wanting a better camera system wasn’t enough. They wanted a system they could build on, over an extended period of time, without replacing the existing infrastructure. They found that system in the Vicon family of video products, and a relationship that began almost 10 years ago is still going strong. Building a better airport As part of an ongoing airport improvement project in the early 1990s, Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) embarked on a video expansion program that began with 16 cameras and has grown to more than 800 cameras today. To do this, they called on a Minnesota security system integrator, Pro-Tec Design. “We were asked if we could provide services on their existing system of 16 cameras,” recalls Tom Hagen, president of Pro-Tec Design. “The desired goal was to expand the camera security system throughout the airport facility into multiple buildings located at multiple locations throughout the 3300 acre site. They wanted to be able to expand camera security into those locations, yet have the ability to view any camera from multiple monitoring areas, regardless of where the camera was located.” “Another key requirement was to design and install a system that would permit quite a bit of expansion over time, with some assurance that each phase of expansion would build upon and preserve the investments made previously.” The airport had put together a team, consisting of representatives from the primary architectural firm, electrical engineering, airport police, airport facility development and an electrical contracting firm. Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport “We were offered the opportunity to bring in our recommendations,” Hagen says. One of the performance tests was to set up live cameras to view outdoor activity at dusk. “We tested several different cameras. The selection team was viewing the camera pictures on a monitor inside one of the concourses. One particular camera produced an outstanding picture in the low-light conditions. The monitor view appeared to be from an earlier time of the day during normal daytime conditions. It was one of the Vicon cameras.” That was one reason they selected Vicon, Hagen recalls. Another was the design of the system using a concept of distributed architecture, which at the time was quite unique. This design allowed airport personnel to accomplish one of their main goals, which was to be able to view a camera from any viewing location, even if the camera was on the opposite side of the airport. Another benefit was the ability to assign priorities or “seize levels” to each camera. “If we have one controller that is a higher priority, they would automatically take control of the camera over someone else who may be using it at the time,” explains Tom Germundson, Security Consultant for the airport. The design allowed airport personnel to accomplish one of their main goals, which was to be able to view a camera from any viewing location Expanding the system Once the initial Vicon system was in place, the airport gradually added on, upgraded and incorporated new technologies as their needs changed. One prime example of evolving technology was the migration from analog VCRs to digital video recorders (DVRs). “Originally the recording was done on VCRs connected to 16-channel multiplexers,” Hagen says. “Now that has all been migrated into a distributed, networked architecture of digital video recorders, using ViconNet software to view live and recorded video from cameras located throughout the facility. That has been a very important and useful improvement for people who use the system. It replaced a method of finding recorded video that was so cumbersome. The new system is much, much easier to use.” Beginning about two years ago, the airport migrated from the old VCRs to Vicon’s newest DVR technology, the Kollector. “The move to DVRs was the airport’s most recent, significant upgrade,” Germundson says. “We waited for the newest Kollector so we could gain that technology,” he says. What they gained by waiting for the technology that best fits their needs was the ability to have truly user-friendly documentation and the ability to quickly access the video information they need. “We’ve had incidents where oversized vehicles have entered the parking garage and knocked the video out of the ceiling,” Germundson says. “We can now locate that vehicle, and when the person comes back, they get a notice that they owe X amount for damages. Finding and using video evidence on VCRs is difficult. You can’t share information as easily. It’s a lot more cumbersome. It’s not usually worth the time, so people would avoid doing it.” The system in use The system today features 800 plus fixed or pan-tilt-zoom cameras. Live and recorded video is available on a network of fifty-four (54) DVRs where camera views can be pulled up by authorized personnel, in a prioritised manner. "We can now locate that vehicle,and when the person comesback, they get a notice that theyowe X amount for damages" All these components work together to make up a cohesive system that meets the unique needs of MSP Airport. In 2003, the airport served 33.2 million passengers making them the 7th busiest airport in the world. In the same year, J.D. Powers & Associates rated MSP as the third best airport in the world. “If we are looking for an individual, we can quickly gain access to the video information,” Germundson says. “We also have a graphical user interface. We can easily find the right camera to use if an individual went down a specific concourse. We can see an incident to determine what happened. If there is damage to property, we can locate the video and see what caused it.” Plans to continue system expansion Of course, no system is perfect, and almost no installation goes off without a hitch. Over the years, there have been desired improvements, some of which could only be remedied as technology itself advanced. The Kollectors are a prime example. The original DVRs had a 440 Gigabyte hard drive. “The ones we had originally had too little storage for our needs,” Germundson says. “They did not give us enough recording time. We weren’t really able to fix it except as time moved on and Vicon provided larger storage capacities.” The current DVRs contain a 1.2 Terabyte hard drive. Going forward, MSP has plans to continue the expansion of their system. “We are possibly looking at things like perimeter detection, maybe incorporating software-enhanced video, which we could set up so if a person crossed a certain location in a certain direction, it would trigger an alarm,” Germundson says. They are also talking to Vicon about adding additional storage capacity to some of the older Kollector Elites they have. “The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has had the benefit of a powerful camera security system that has incorporated new innovations as they have become available as a result of progressive efforts by many people over time,” Hagen says. “There is a team of people involved that have had the vision to stay ahead of the curve. That is what it takes.”